Normally hair stylists and barbers place a cape around a customer's torso, legs and arms prior to washing, cutting, or otherwise styling the customer's hair, and secure the cape at the back of the customer's neck using fasteners, such as snaps, and at a tightness indicated by the customer as comfortable. Because the capes are loose fitting around the neck, it is not uncommon for cut hair particles and fluids to slip between the inner lining of the haircutting capes and cling to a user's clothes, or even to slip down inside of their clothes, causing an irritating sensation.
A thin, rectangular-shaped strip is often placed around the customer's neck, inside of the cape to protect against contracting infections by being in contact with a re-useable cape. The strips are made of disposable paper or plastic material that often pulls apart or loosens when wet. They then become ineffective in protecting the customer's neck, and in preventing fluids from dripping beneath the strips, and hair particles from falling between gaps that exist between the neck and the strips and the cape, and onto the customer's skin and clothes beneath the cape.
The prior art teaches various cutting collars made of paper or rubber or the like for use in lieu, or in conjunction with, the rectangular strips, where the collars require fasteners to secure the ends together, such as snaps, Velcro-like material, magnets, etc. Therefore, they are not able to be adjusted to fit any neck size and comfort level, but only neck sizes that the fasteners are spaced for, thus leaving a space for fluids and hair particles to fall into for in-between sized necks. When made of paper, the collars are not impervious to fluids soaking through the collar top surface and onto a customer's clothes. And when made of rubber or plastic, such as the Robbc® Neckquard by Denman and the collar by Raylay Beauty and Cosmetics (marketed by Alibaba™) the collars are often not able to make a tight seal with the customer's neck due to the inflexible nature and surface texture of the material, therefore hair particles and fluids can still fall and/or slide beneath the top of the cape and onto the customer's skin and clothes. Also, the inflexibility of these collars creates an uncomfortable fit for the user.
Thus, there remains a need for an improved re-useable haircutting collar that is able to protect a user's (i.e. customer's) clothing and body from wetness, stains and chemical damage, and clinging hair particles during hair treatments. The collar should also be easily bendable (e.g. up to ninety degrees) to cover both the user's neck (e.g. up to a vertical position) and collarbone (e.g. angled down to a horizontal position), and be adjustable to fit any size human adult and/or child neck. And the collar should comprise material that comfortably contours and/or adheres and/or loosely bonds to the user's skin without adverse side effects (e.g. suction marks, stretched skin, toxic or irritated skin, etc.) to form a tight or water-resistant seal able to block dripping fluids and cut hair from sliding and falling beneath the collar.